Our Vulnerability

Our earth needs tender loving care, too.

John F. Kennedy said in a speech on June 28, 1963: The supreme reality of our time is . . . the vulnerability of our planet.

With a meteorite crashing to earth a couple of weeks ago, I began to think about Kennedy's wisdom. When I saw the footage on TV of the flaming meteorite falling to earth, I was mesmerised and frightened that it might hit a densely populated area and thousands of people would die. This fireball was a fragment of what could be out there in space waiting to collide with this planet in the future. What if it was bigger? What if the other meteorite that passed earth by 27,000 kilometres collided?

Our planet is vulnerable. The human race and all the other life forms inhabiting this planet is susceptible to outside forces. If a gigantic meteoroid was heading straight for our planet, I'm sure NASA and all the countries of the world would come together to do all in their power to intercept or divert it.

Referring back to John F. Kennedy's speech: are meteorites the only threat to our planet or is it something more than that? People may not be meteorites, but the impact people have on the earth's resources is a threat to life. What I'm talking about is the amount of rubbish that is clogging up the streams and oceans.

I've just finished reading Jessica Watson's, "True Spirit". I was dismayed to read, while she was sailing around the world on Ella's Pink Lady, she saw plastic junk and other debris floating in the water. Where does all this junk go? Do the sea creatures eat it; is it washed up on the beaches of all the continents of this world; does it float forever on the high seas accumulating  as one big mass; or sink to the ocean floor suffocating the life that inhabits down there? Whatever happens to the garbage is unacceptable and we must reduce  the amount we use. It is almost fifty years since John F. Kennedy made that statement. A timely reminder for us all to be aware of the impact each of us have on our fragile earth.

Clean Up Astralia Day is on Sunday, 3rd March. I'm hoping we'll remember to think about the amount of electricity we burn, the rubbish we put in our bins; and the amount of water we use, so that we and our planet don't die a long, slow and agonizing death.

Thank you to all the people involved in Clean Up Australia Day 2013.

Inside The Writer's Mind

Being a writer means communicating at multi-levels.

There are a lot of books on finding your writing voice in the market place. Ever since I was six years old I found the magic in being able to read a book and get inside the writer's mind. The words took me to outer space, into the future, on the farm, overseas and places I'd never known. It was wonderful and exciting to be inside the mind of another person. Intriguing, too ...

When I started writing I didn't understand what was meant by 'writing voice'. My writing seemed lame compared to all the published work. What was I doing wrong? Lots..!

Well, I was trying to be like some of the greats that I'd read, Pearl S Buck, Virginia Woolf, Ray Bradbury, and all the others. I wanted to write like them when I grew up. I'm still growing up, so there's hope yet. However, now that I've found the confidence to put pen to paper, I've realised I can't write like them. I'm not them, I'm Laura, and so I have to write like Laura with her personality. My first unpublished works resembled others I'd read and it sounded like I was trying to be someone I wasn't. No wonder I wasn't getting published. My writing was bland, bland, plain boring.

So how do you find your writing voice? Write, write and write some more. From the heart with the words that are yours in the way you would say it because of the life experiences you have had. It's your life experiences that have made you the person you are and there is no one in the world like you. Really. Your perception of the world and what you see as important or unimportant is different to Pearl, Virginia or Ray, and all the others. Now that I've realised my writing is different from every other writer's on this sphere we call Earth, I hope to find the voice that is uniquely mine. I don't think this will happen overnight, but with practice I'm sure I'll find the unique way of writing that says 'It's Laura'. I'm hoping my future works will reflect the 'genuine article'.

How about you? Are you writing from the heart with your unique perspective on the world? I'd really like to hear about your journey in how you got to that point.